Method for manufacturing cutter mold

ABSTRACT

A method for manufacturing a cutter mold for use on a cutting machine to cut articles includes the steps of: preparing a metal plate, coating a printing ink layer on the surface of the metal plate to form a printing ink area and a non-printing ink layer, drying the printing ink layer on the metal plate, submerging the metal plate in an etching agent to etch the non-printing ink layer to form a cutter with a tapered top end, and finally grinding the tapered top end of the cutter to form an edge to complete the cutter mold.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a cutter mold and particularly a cutter mold installed on a cutting machine for cutting printed articles, stickers, paper and circuit boards.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The commonly used cutting machines for cutting printed articles, stickers (for characters or patterns such as numerals, company logos, labels), circuit boards or paper generally employ a punch on the cutting machines to drive a cutter mold downwards to make the cutting movements. As a result, the printed articles or the contours of the characters or patterns of the stickers have cutting traces formed thereon to allow users to remove the characters or patterns.

[0003] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the cutter mold 9 used on a conventional cutting machine generally consists of a base 91 made from wood and a cutter 92 embedded in the base 91. To make the cutter mold 9, a the profile of the cutter 92 is printed on the base 91, then a laser is deployed to cut off a piece of wood mapping the profile of the cutter 92 from the base 91, and the cutter 92 formed by punching is embedded in to opening 93 formed on the base 91 after laser cutting, and the cutoff wood 94 is inserted back into the interior of the cutter 92 so that the cutter 92 may be securely anchored on the base 91 to form the cutter mold 9 to cut the printed articles, stickers, circuit boards or paper.

[0004] Although the cutter mold 9 set forth above can be used to cut the printed articles, stickers, circuit boards or paper when driven by a punch, the edge of the cutter 92 becomes dull after using for a period of time. Once the edge of the cutter 92 is dull, it cannot be ground and becomes useless. A new set of cutter mold 9 has to be made. As a result, production time and cost for cutting operation increase.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] Therefore the primary object of the invention is to resolve the aforesaid disadvantages. The invention aims at forming a cutter by etching a metal plate that maps the cutting printed articles, sticker characters or patterns, circuit boards or paper.

[0006] Another object of the invention is to coat a layer of printing ink on a metal plate mapping different cutter profiles to facilitate mass production and reduce production cost.

[0007] A further object of the invention is to grind the cutter edge by controlling a grinding machine or a milling machine according to the original designed patterns by a computer so that the cutter may be used again without the need of making a new cutter.

[0008] Yet another object of the invention is to provide a cutter mold that has a desired toughness for bending and laying on a calender roller type cutting machine.

[0009] In order to achieve the foregoing objects, the method of the invention includes preparing a metal plate, coating a layer of printing ink on the metal plate to form a printing ink area and a non-printing ink area, submerging the dried metal plate in an etching agent to etch the non-printing ink area, cleansing the metal plate, and removing the printing ink to form a cutter on the base. Then the cutter is ground to form cutter edge to complete the cutter mold.

[0010] The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional cutter mold.

[0012]FIG. 2 is an exploded view of a conventional cutter mold according to FIG. 1.

[0013]FIGS. 3 through 7 are the fabrication steps of the method of the invention.

[0014]FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a first embodiment of the invention.

[0015]FIG. 9 is a schematic view of a second embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] Refer to FIGS. 3 through 7 for the method of the invention. The method of the invention is directly forming a cutter 3 on a metal plate 2. After the cutter mold 1 is completed, install the cutter mold on a cutting machine (not shown in the drawings) to cut printed articles, stickers (for characters or patterns such as numerals, company logos, labels), paper or circuit boards.

[0017] To make the cutter mold 1, first, prepare a metal plate 2 about 1 mm thick. Coat the surface of the metal plate 2 with a printing ink layer 4 to form a printing ink area 4 and an non-printing ink layer 4′. After the printing ink layer 4 on the metal plate 2 is dried, submerge the metal plate 2 in a container containing an etching agent for a selected time to etch the non-printing ink layer 4′.

[0018] After the etching is completed on the metal plate 2, taking out the metal plate 2 for cleansing and removing the printing ink area 4 from the metal plate 2 to form a base 5 with a cutter 3 formed thereon. The cutter 3 is tapered from the bottom on the base 5 to the top end. Then grinding the edge 31 on the top end of the cutter 3 to form a cutter mold 1.

[0019] The length of the cutter 3 may be controlled by the etching time of the non-printing ink layer 4′ of the metal plate 2. For instance, to form a cutter 3 of the length of 0.9 mm on a metal plate of 1 mm thickness, the metal plate 2 may be taken out from the etching agent once the requited etching time is due. With the cutter 3 of the length of 0.9 mm, the remaining 0.1 mm becomes the base 5 of the cutter mold 1. Then the cutter mold 1 may be installed on a cutting machine.

[0020] The profile of the printing ink layer 4 may be printed on the metal plate 2 by mapping a desired character pattern. Once the etching is finished, the profile of the cutter 3 of the cutter mold 1 is formed same as the profile of the character pattern formed by printing ink layer 4 printed on the metal plate 2.

[0021] On the metal plate 2, many different types of printing ink layer 4 may be printed at the same time to fabricate the cutter mold 1 in a large quantity to reduce the production cost.

[0022] Refer to FIG. 8 for a first embodiment of the invention. Once the cutter mold 1 is completed, it may be installed on a cutting machine 6. A soft cushion pad 7 may be sandwiched between the cutter mold 1 and the cutting machine 6 so that the cutter mold 1 may be prevented from rupturing when the cutting machine 6 is used to punch the printed articles, stickers, paper or circuit boards.

[0023] Refer to FIG. 9 for a second embodiment of the invention in which the cutting machine uses a roller 8 to cut the printed articles, stickers, paper or circuit boards. As the cutter mold 1 has a base 5 of a thickness of 0.1 mm when completed, it has toughness and may be bent and installed on the circumference of the roller 8. When the printed articles, stickers, paper or circuit boards are fed into the calendar roller, the roller 8 can cut the printed articles, stickers, paper or circuit boards as desired.

[0024] In addition, the printing ink layer 4 is printed on the metal plate 2 by computer design and control. Hence after the cutter 3 of the cutter mold 1 has been used for a period of time and the edge 31 of the cutter 3 becomes dull, the original designed pattern stored in the computer may be used to control a grinding machine or a milling machine to grind the edge 31 so that users do not need to make another cutter mold 1. Thus the cutter mold 1 may be used repeatedly to greatly reduce the production cost of the cutter mold, and also reduce the cutting cost. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for manufacturing a cutter mold for use on a cutting machine to cut printed articles, stickers, paper or circuit boards, comprising the steps of: a. preparing a metal plate and coating a printing ink layer on the surface of the metal plate to form a printing ink area and a non-printing ink layer; b. drying the printing ink layer on the metal plate, and submerging the metal plate in an etching agent to etch the non-printing ink layer; c. cleansing the metal plate and removing the printing ink area from the metal plate to form a base and a cutter, the cutter being tapered from the bottom on the base to a top end thereof; and d. grinding the top end of the cutter by a grinding machine to form an edge to complete the cutter mold.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the length of the cutter is determined by etching time.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the base of the cutter mold has a tough property and is bendable to cover a roller of a cutting machine for feeding cutting objects.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the tough property of the base is determined by the thickness of the base.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the cutter has a profile determined by a profile of the printing ink layer on the metal plate.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the printing ink layer on the metal plate includes a plurality of cutter profiles of various shapes. 